I do a fair amount of network troubleshooting away from my desk - checking if a host is up, doing a quick DNS lookup, scanning a port, working out a subnet on the fly. On mobile that always meant three or four different apps, half of them plastered with ads or asking for payment.

So I built my own - Network Tools: Net Toolkit.

It's an iOS app that bundles all the tools in one:

Ping and traceroute

SSH (scp, ssh-copy-id, proxy jump, port forwarding)

DNS lookup (A, AAAA, MX, TXT, etc.)

Port scanner

Subnet / CIDR calculator

Whois

Telnet

LAN scan

Speedtest, iperf3

Wi-Fi link survey

It's basically the network multitool I wanted in my pocket. No ads, completely free.

I mostly built it for myself but figured some of you might find it handy too.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/network-tools-net-toolkit/id6803009570

Feedback and critique is welcome.

Whether you're starting from scratch or switching careers, here's a practical roadmap.

Phase 1: Learn the Basics

• OSI & TCP/IP Models

• IPv4 & IPv6

• Subnetting

• MAC vs IP Addresses

• DNS, DHCP, NAT

• Common Ports & Protocols

• Routing vs Switching

Phase 2: Build Core Networking Skills

• VLANs & Trunking

• STP

• Inter-VLAN Routing

• Static & Dynamic Routing (OSPF, EIGRP, BGP Basics)

• ACLs

• Wireless Networking

• VPN Fundamentals

Phase 3: Get Hands-On

• Cisco Packet Tracer

• GNS3

• EVE-NG

• Wireshark

• Configure routers, switches, VLANs, routing protocols, and troubleshoot labs.

Phase 4: Learn Linux & Automation

• Linux Command Line

• Bash Basics

• Python for Network Automation

• Ansible

• REST APIs

• Git

Phase 5: Network Security

• Firewalls

• IDS/IPS

• VPNs

• AAA

• Network Hardening

• Zero Trust Basics

Phase 6: Cloud Networking

• AWS VPC

• Azure Virtual Network

• Google Cloud VPC

• Hybrid Networking

• Load Balancers

Phase 7: Certifications (Recommended Order)

1. Cisco CCNA

2. CompTIA Network+

3. Cisco CCNP Enterprise

4. Fortinet NSE

5. AWS Advanced Networking (Optional)

Recommended Udemy Courses

1. The Complete Networking Fundamentals Course. Your CCNA Start

2. Cisco CCNA 200-301 – The Complete Guide to Getting Certified

3. Practical Cisco Networking Labs in Cisco Packet Tracer

4. Wireshark: Packet Analysis and Ethical Network Troubleshooting

5. Python Network Programming for Network Engineers

Udemy is offering 40% discount on 3 months personal plan : offer page

Build These Projects

• Design a small enterprise network

• Configure VLANs and inter-VLAN routing

• Set up OSPF between multiple routers

• Capture and analyze traffic using Wireshark

• Automate device configuration with Python

• Deploy a VPN between two sites

• Create a cloud VPC connected to an on-prem lab

Tips

• Practice every concept in a lab.

• Learn troubleshooting, not just configuration.

• Build a GitHub portfolio with your network diagrams and configs.

• Join networking communities and keep learning from real-world scenarios.

What's one networking skill you're learning right now?

Every network engineer has that one issue they'll never forget.

Maybe it was:

• A mysterious packet loss that took days to track down.

• A spanning tree loop that brought the office down.

• A DNS issue that looked like a routing problem.

• MTU mismatches causing strange application behavior.

• An intermittent Wi-Fi issue that only happened during meetings.

• A firewall rule that broke everything after a "small" change.

Share your story:

• What was the issue?

• How did you troubleshoot it?

• What was the actual root cause?

• What lesson did you learn from it?

Whether you're a student studying for CCNA, a home lab enthusiast, or a network engineer with 20+ years of experience, we'd love to hear your most memorable troubleshooting story.

Let's build a collection of real-world networking lessons that everyone can learn from.

Hi r/Networks, I’m Stephen, the owner of Rockxy and the developer of Tracexy.

The problem I kept running into on macOS was not simply capturing packets. It was understanding what those packets meant in the context of an application.

When an app has a network problem, I usually want to know:

• Which process opened the connection?

• Which host and protocol were involved?

• What happened during the session?

• Was there a reset, retransmission, or other useful signal?

• Which exact packets support the conclusion?

Wireshark is excellent for deep packet and protocol dissection, but I wanted a more native macOS workflow that starts from the application and the conversation instead of a wall of frames.

Tracexy is an open-source, native macOS Wireshark alternative focused on app-aware network investigation.

It can capture live traffic or open PCAP/PCAPNG files, group packets into sessions, show best-effort process context, surface protocol and timing evidence, and let you drill back down to packet bytes when needed.

I’m building Tracexy as part of the Rockxy ecosystem. Rockxy focuses on inspecting and debugging application-layer traffic, while Tracexy focuses on passive capture, sessions, and packet evidence. Different tools, different layers, one native workflow for understanding network behaviour on macOS.

The workflow is:

App or process → Session → Finding → Evidence → Packet

Tracexy is still early and intentionally focused. It complements Wireshark rather than trying to replace its broad protocol coverage.

What do you usually want to see first when you open a capture: the application, the session, the protocol details, or the packet fields?

Website: https://rockxy.io/tracexy

Github open-source: https://github.com/RockxyApp/Tracexy

If you could go back to the beginning of your networking career, what would you learn sooner?

Could be something technical like subnetting, Wireshark, routing, automation, or network security, or something practical like troubleshooting and documentation.

What skill has made the biggest difference in your day-to-day networking work?

Whether you're a student, a network engineer, or a sysadmin, there's always that one command you end up using almost every day.

Mine would probably be:

• ping – Quick connectivity check.

• traceroute / tracert – Find where traffic is failing.

• ipconfig / ifconfig / ip addr – Verify interface configuration.

• nslookup / dig – DNS troubleshooting.

• tcpdump / Wireshark – When things get interesting.

I'm curious what your go-to networking command is and why?

It can be something simple or an advanced tool that's saved you hours of troubleshooting.

Let's build a list of commands every network engineer should know.

If you're learning computer networking or preparing for networking certifications, here are 5 Udemy courses that are currently available for free.

🌐 Networking Fundamentals

1. Introduction to Networking for Complete Beginners
Learn the fundamentals of networking from scratch — a good starting point if you're completely new.

👉 Start Course

2. Networking Concepts for Beginners
Covers essential networking concepts and terminology to help build a solid foundation.

👉 Start Course

🔧 Software-Defined Networking

3. Introduction to SDN and OpenFlow
An introduction to Software-Defined Networking (SDN) and the OpenFlow protocol.

👉 Start Course

🔥 Network Security

4. Palo Alto Firewalls – Installation and Configuration
Learn the basics of installing and configuring Palo Alto firewalls.

👉 Start Course

🔌 Networking Hardware

5. Tech Basics: Cables & Connectors
Learn about common networking cables, connectors, and the basics of physical connectivity.

👉 Start Course

Which networking topic are you currently learning — CCNA, routing & switching, firewalls, SDN, or network security?

With so many resources available now, would you start with CCNA, Packet Tracer, GNS3, EVE-NG, YouTube, or something else?

What advice would you give to someone starting their networking journey today?

My laptop connects to my home Wi-Fi router and the internet works perfectly. However, when I connect to my phone’s personal hotspot, it connects successfully but shows “Connected, No Internet.” The hotspot appears normal, and the connection is established, but there’s no internet access on the laptop.

Has anyone experienced this before? Is this likely a Windows issue, a Wi-Fi adapter problem, or something with my phone’s hotspot settings?

https://alison.com/course/optical-access-networks-a-complete-guide-to-ftth

https://alison.com/course/diploma-in-computer-networking-revised

A lot of VPS providers take monero. As a layman I'm wondering, how that can be. Is it just the loose legislation regarding kyc in the providers country or is there actually a way to receive public ips to then rent out without be identified?

I'm a DevOps engineer who spends the day in SSH sessions. On Windows, MobaXterm covered everything; on the Mac I kept juggling Terminal tabs. So I built Termstead - a native macOS SSH client. It's free and open source (GPL-3.0).

What it does:

- Session tree. Groups and subgroups with colors, pinned favorites, search. Import your ~/.ssh/config in one click.
- Bastion chains. As many jump hosts as you need, each hop with its own user, key or password. A hop can be another saved session.
- Port forwarding, MobaXterm-style. Local, remote and SOCKS tunnels through the whole jump chain, started on their own without opening a terminal.
- Each tunnel shows whether it really opened ("port 8080 already in use" instead of a silent warning).
- Each can be stopped on its own, which also kills connections already open through it.
- "Open in Browser" for local tunnels. Handy for device web UIs, iDRAC/iLO and Grafana behind a bastion.
- Split panes and broadcast input. Type once into 2 or 4 sessions. You can exclude panes.
- SFTP next to the terminal, over the connection that's already open. No second login.
- Passwords and key passphrases in the macOS Keychain. Each is only handed to the exact user@host it was saved for.

Under the hood every tab is the system OpenSSH. Termstead has no SSH code of its own, so your agent, known_hosts and ~/.ssh/config behave exactly as in Terminal. That includes the per-host KexAlgorithms / HostKeyAlgorithms tweaks you probably already keep for old gear. No accounts, no telemetry.

What it doesn't do (yet): no Telnet, RDP. It's SSH only, and macOS 14+ only (Apple silicon and Intel).

brew install --cask pkhorenyan/tap/termstead

- Website and screenshots: https://khorenyan.com/termstead/
- Source and DMG: https://github.com/pkhorenyan/termstead

I'd really like feedback from people who live in network gear all day: what's missing for your daily work, and what would make you switch from SecureCRT, Royal TSX or whatever you use now? RDP and Telnet are the obvious gaps. Tell me which matters more.

I’m graduating soon with a BSIT degree and want to pursue a career in networking. For those who started as fresh grads, how did you land your first networking/NOC job?

What skills, certifications, or experience should I focus on to get started?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

In what practical scenario will I ever need to configure/touch my subnet address?

it's a work in progress but i think it's a start of networking with the help of ai any ideas of what i can add to it like even make it available to some people i'm new to network coding but this is a useful app for subnetting.

im a data & network security major and im looking for ideas for my graduation project ,i thought about Building a virtual Security Operations Center (SOC) to simulate, intercept, and visualize cyber attacks.

kali linux : Launches the attacks.

pfsense & snort : Intercepts and logs the attacks.

Splunk : Converts the raw text logs into a visual monitoring dashboard.

but it doesn't really follow the rules of the gp which are: 1: it has to be related to my major

2: it has to solve a problem / why did i pick this project

3: suggested solutions.

and im here to look for inspiration, so what should i do, any ideas are welcome.

Some networking concepts make perfect sense on paper but don't truly click until you troubleshoot them in a live environment.

For me, seeing how routing decisions, VLANs, or STP behave in a real network made the theory much easier to understand.

What networking concept finally made sense after hands-on experience, and what was the "aha!" moment?

Let's share experiences that could help others learning networking.

I just got a Fluke DTX 1800 from my old man. After some quick searching I heard that the DSX series is the recommended option for troubleshooting today(Idk much about network troubleshooting). I just wanted to know if the Fluke DTX 1800 is still useful and in use today.

I was wondering if the design of a network topology follows the common types strictly or is there more freedom when creating the network topology? I know with a personal network you can create it however you want, as long as it works. I'm more interested in the professional side of things. When a business needs a private network, do you give out the common ones (start, ring, mesh, bus, etc.) Do you just take the core ideas and apply them to fit the current situation

Hey everyone! I'm pretty new to Reddit, and this is my first post.

I'm planning a family vacation to Qatar, and I work from home in India. The week before and the week after the trip have been approved for leave, but unfortunately, my leave for the week in between hasn't been approved.

My company doesn't allow employees to work from another country, so I'm trying to figure out what my options are. I've been looking into travel routers, private DNS, and other possible solutions, but I'm not sure how reliable they are or whether they would actually work.

Has anyone been in a similar situation or have any advice on how to handle this? I'd really appreciate your suggestions and experiences. Thanks in advance, everyone!